Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Macrobiotic Cooking for Relationships and Sex

The energies of earth's force (yin) and heaven's force (yang) naturally seek balance. When couples make love, they find oneness and balance. The degree or quality of each determines attraction, love, repulsion, or dislike. Learn about what foods create a smooth flow of energy through the body and contribute to healthy and vital partners creating soulful, mindful, and loving sex. You won't hear "Not tonight honey, I'm too tired" any more!

February 11th 2006 Kapiolani Community College, $45 808-734-9211

February 18th, 2006 University of Hawaii, Hemenway Leisure Center, Hemenway Hall Rm 101, 956-6468 $45 students, $50 community

Veg News about American "choice"

From Jan/Feb Veg News

Big Vegan Business
another reason to avoid processed foods is that many vegan companies
have been bought out by mega corporations that have less than
stellar reputations. Here are a few examples that might surprise
you:

Lightlife:
owned by ConAgra who is one of the nations top beef producers. In
2002, the company recalled almost 19 million pounds of beef due to
potential E.coli contamination. Also ConAgra is the parent company
of numerous meat-containing brands including: Hebrew National Beef
Franks, Chef Boyardee, Butterball Turkey, Hunt's Manwich and Slim
Jim.

Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen
Owned by General Mills who makes many nutritionally-deficient
cereals aimed at children. Also, the company's main shareholders
include Phillip Morris, Exxon-Mobil, General Electric, Chevron,
Nike, McDondald's, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and PepsiCo

Boca owned by Kraft. Kraft is owned by Altria, formerly known as
Phillip Morris. Do you really wnat your food dollars supporting
such a notoriously deceptive tobacco company? Also, most Boca
burgers are made with genetically-modified soy.

Odwala owned by Coca-Cola is notorious for contaminating the water
supply in developing countries such as India. Coca-Cola has also
been implicated in the murder of labor activists in Colombia. If
that's not enough, the company hooks children on its sugary,
nutrionally deficient beverages by forming exclusive contracts with
desperate school districts.

White Wave (Silk soy products) owned by Dean Foods. Dean Foods is
one of the nation's largest dairy companies and makes several
misleading claims about the health benefits of dairy, including
extolling its weight-loss benefits. Also, Dean Foods' main
investors include Pfizer, Phillip Morris, Exxon-Mobil, Coca-Cola,
Wal-Mart and PepsiCo

Finally, quite a few vegan products are now under the umbrella group
called "The Hain Celestial Group" including Terra Chips, Garden of
Eatin' Health Vally, WestSoy, Earth's Best, Westbrae Natural,
Imagine (Soy and Rice Dream) and Yves Veggie Cuisine. H.J. Heinz
owns about 20% of Hain, and other investors include Phillip Morris,
Monsanto, Exxon-Mobil and Wal-Mart.

In contrast, when you purchase organic, locally grown whole foods,
you support your local markets and farmers, thereby contributing to
the health and wellbeing of yourself, the environment and the local
economy all at once.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Macrobiotic Guilt-Free Dessert Class in Honolulu

Jan 21st, 2006

Guilt-Free Desserts

When we eat a good diet, we take the frontline to prevent disease, improve vitality, enjoy deeper sleep, support a healthy weight, and enable our brain to function smoothly. In short, we have a deep sense of well-being. Americans are reported to eat up to 20 teaspoons of sugar every day, and 150 pounds of sugar every year. Refined foods such as white flour and sugar in modern desserts take a tremendous toll on us. These simple sugars enter our bloodstream immediately and are metabolized quickly raising blood glucose levels and overworking our pancreas in an attempt to rebalance. Simple sugars equal quick energy followed by exhaustion. Whole grains support our health.

We'll discuss:

Effects of sugar and refined foods on the body
Why we have sugar and fat cravings
How to promote good health
Standard Macrobiotic Diet – what is it?
Balancing yin and yang in our diet – avoiding extremes

We'll make:

Cous Cous Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Mousse Parfait
Apple Compote with Almond Cream Sauce.

University of Hawaii, Hemenway Leisure Center, Hemenway Hall Rm 111, 956-6468 $45 students, $50 community

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Ura Ura Rolls from Macro Seminar


P1080342
Originally uploaded by macro808.
Look at these luscious brown rice sushi rolls! Our dinner was soooo delicious!

Krishna Das and Kirtan

On Dec. 17th, Krishna Das was in Honolulu. I've been reading about him in Yoga Journal, and was thrilled to find out about his being here. He does "kirtan" which is a sing and response type of chanting. Every time I've read about it, it sounds like the whole group connects and great levels of joy and meditation are reached. During one chant, I was overcome with emotion and started to cry. I looked around at everyone chanting, and saw in them the same desire I have: a peaceful and happy world. They all seemed to care about the future of the planet and the people on it. It was a great way to celebrate the holiday season. I felt relieved and resolved to be in a spiritual place for the holidays, rather than one in the material realm going to parties, drinking alcohol, and eating sweets. There are other more important things in the world to attend to.

Invisible worlds, friends and enemies

This weekend, Hiroyuki and Mie Naka were in Honolulu to do a seminar about macrobiotic cooking and they gave some amazing lectures as well. Hiroyuki was talking extensively about the invisible world. I'm still reflecting on their visit, their lectures, and my talks with them. Meanwhile, I've also just downloaded the current version of Macrobiotic Today, and Carl Ferre has a wonderful article in it about friends and enemies being examples of yin and yang. He replaces yin and yang with these two words and then explains them in some detail. Friends and enemies all originate from the same source: infinity, and are first nurtured in the invisible world before they manifest in the visible. I started again thinking about our invisible world and how a person can nuture it, if this is possible? Meditating? Praying? I put on a CD that my great friend Reni gave to me -- it has she and several friends chanting in a samurai shinto temple in the foothills of Fukuyama, Japan. It felt like she was sitting next to me in my car as I drove to work.... I got out, and as I walked to my destination, I could hear the same sound in my ears (om), as though it was coming from everywhere at once. I am resolved to thinking more about the invisible world and energy.

Interesting quote about $

I finished reading a book called "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T Harv Eker. He's (not?) macrobiotic per say, but his text describes macrobiotic principles of energy in relation to money and business. It's an excellent read, with exercises to do. The point is that before something in one's life can change, one must change ones thoughts. Here is one tidbit:

If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.

T Harv Eker

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Macrobiotic Seminar

Our macrobiotic seminar was sooo much fun. The Naka's are really incredible people. We had so much support from the students, and Mie and Hiroyuki mentioned that all the students were all really nice people and very interested, so they were so happy. All the meals that we cooked were extremely delicious. We're looking forward to doing a lot more in the future, and they plan to come back every 6 months or so.

My mission

My mission is to make the world a better place in some way by teaching macrobiotic principles. I'd like to share a sense of hope with students and tools to achieve how the body and mind can heal without surgeries and drugs. In addition, I'd like to share that we can gain radiant health, beauty and well-being by changing our diets. Long term health is a daily journey integrating spiritual values, diet, and lifestyle. Changing one's diet can change one's life and destiny for the positive, helping us seek and discover the divinity and oneness within and to feel this in all facets of our lives and in the world around us. In doing so, we'll build a community in the Honolulu area sharing similar goals, values, and dreams.